Honda Unveils Its Self-Balancing Motorbike That Will Prevent Riders From Falling Over

Honda has a new motorcycle that can stand upright with or without a rider, using technology the firm learned from developing a walking humanoid.

Unveiled Wednesday at the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda’s Riding Assist-e is an all-electric concept model that constantly assesses its position and moves the handlebar to ensure the vehicle stays upright.

Honda’s self balancing motorbike can even ride itself and follow its owner to a parking space. Honda says it hopes it could cut down of the number of low speed accidents where owners drop their bikes

For years, international bike manufacturers have experimented with various forms of gyroscopes to prevent motorcycles from falling over, said Hiroyuki Nakata, the engineer behind the idea.

“But if you wanted to keep something as heavy as a motorcycle standing, you need a large and heavy gyroscopic device and you need to keep turning it,” he said

Honda’s device, however, is only the size of a lamp and can be rigged above the front wheel.

With the system turned off, the motorcycle topples over when the rider takes his hands from it. But when it is flipped on, the bike stays stock still as if in a magic show, even when the rider walks away from it.However, the firm has not said when the bike will enter production.